Reviews

I used to be a fan of S*n S*i Wah until I found out about this restaurant. The price and food quality are way better although still on the expensive side.

The restaurant is very clean and medium-sized. It gets very busy on the weekend evenings so I would not recommend showing up without a reservation unless you have plenty of time to kill.

My favourites here are the crabmeat & fish maw soup, the 2-course peking duck, and live prawns pan fried in soy sauce which can be found at most cantonese restaurants. My favourite dishes that can only be found at Pelican are:

Golden Yolk Live Crab: This is the live crab deep fried and then cooked with a sauce made from the yolk of salted duck eggs. If you like salted duck eggs, then this dish is a must try.

Beef Ribs with Barbecue Sauce: This is sliced beef ribs stewed in a special brown sauce. The meat is very tender but it is the sauce that is amazing and very tasty.

For dessert, their baked tapioca is also very good.

I rate the service as incredible since they have lots of servers who change your plate and the tea pot is refilled within seconds after you tilt the lid. Food are always served in a timely manner as well.

If you have never been to this place, you might want to give it a try for your next family gathering/dinner.

The old school East Van Chinese restaurants are the best when it comes to great food, service and value. The Pelican is all that plus a great ambience with it recent rennos. The food here is fast and fresh with the average dish running between 10-12 dollars. Service is Cantonese style which i MUCH prefer to the mandarin places that seem to think they are doing you a favour. Our party of 14 ordered up a storm of everything from the run of the mill to some lesser know dishes including three fresh crabs done three ways. The food arrived fast, hot and tasty with great service. They even plated up a B-Day cake for us with comp mango pudding on the side. With a few beers on the tab it came to about $25/person including a great tip which they earned and deserved! I'm glad places like this are still around

Visited Pelican during the weekend and arrived at around noon. A few spots for parking which was nice and a 5 min wait. Ordered the usuals, shrimp dumplings - big and nice, sui mai - big but a bit tough, rice noodles - good fillings but a but too thick, vermecilli - good curry flavour and ample meat. Service was quick and I like the order sheets versus the carts. Seating was a bit cramped but adequate. Prices are a bit high for the area and quality but would return.

The short wait was well worth the effort, food was superb, staff were freindly and helpful in selecting great dishes!

Our previous experiance involved Dim-Sum cart service. This time we ordered from a selected menu, and after a brief wait for the items to be prepared individually in the kitchen, they were delivered hot and delicious.

The duty manager was extremly helpful in selecting the appropiate dishes to match our palete. The dinner was finished with a suprise complimentary dessert which was appreciated by all.

This place seems cleaner than the other Chinese restaurants I have been to so I had the confidence to invite some guests for lunch. There's usually a long wait at this place even with a reservation so be warned. The good thing is that the four of us (all adults) had a decent dim-sum lunch for $35 (tips included) with a good variety too, and still have leftover to take home. We weren't small eaters either so when the bill came I almost thought that they missed something but it was right. So if you don't feel like spending much for decent dim-sum at a clean place, this may be the right place for you. For the ambiance, do be aware that the usual Chinese restaurant scene still applies - close to next table, noisy, and mostly non-fluent English speaking servers but most are generally helpful.

Steamed Dumplings with Pumpkin and Pine Nuts will have me going back mmmmmmmm. Went On a busy Sunday at 10:30.. beat the rush by a hair, Service was ok, not overly friendly but courteous. Restaurant was clean and simple inside. Parking Lot was a Maze by the time I left but there is a lot more parking further North down Victoria.

I have several chinese co-workers, and once in a while we go ther for lunch; food is great, there is a good variety, the food is usually served very hot and everything tastes fresh. One thing i really like, is that when it comes to dim sum, a group can easily get carried away and order way too much, but here they are kind enough to twl you you have order enough. Service is not that great, pretty basic, never a smile, and i have the feeling a lot of the servers don't even speak english (it's always been our chinese friend who deal with them). Ambiance is OK, parking is a bit hard.

I actually know the son of the manager, so the manager would stir something up if he knows I was there eating.

Dim Sum is delicious, not overly-tasted or under-flavored. When came, was still steaming hot, means it wasn't double-cooked or left for a long time. Food is outstanding, definitely deserves plenty of comebacks just for the food itself. Food came at an acceptable time for busy Dim Sum places.

Service was friendly, waiters/waitresses liked to smile a lot. Probably due to the fact that I'm the son of the manager's 'little friend' as they call it. Didn't yell or give us an attitude, when we wanted to order another plate of food.

Value, expected at a Dim Sum place. Won't expect too cheap of a price otherwise it would be horrible food. Value isn't 'shocking', just pretty much the same as for a table of 4 at another dim sum restaurant.

Ambiance, clean, nice artwork around the restaurant, great decor. Paid even the slightest attention to the pebbles used as the counter's decor, painted pebbles deserve a 5 even though they're so small.

Would come again, recommended to friends who like to have a decent experience in a Dim Sum/Chinese Seafood restaurant. Appears to be quite well-liked for special occasions too.

Our favorite dim sum restaurants seem to have gone downhill or have closed. We decided to try Pelican Seafood yesterday. They do not have the carts and you order off the menu.

At 11:00 yesterday it was already very busy and we had to wait 10 minutes for a seat. We had a chance to look at the dim sum menu while we were waiting for our seat and there were a couple of items we wanted that we could not see. When we were seated our waiter Byron came by. We asked him if they had the items that we were unable to find on the menu. He acted like he was doing us a huge favor by pointing out where they were on the menu, I swear he let out a heavy sigh as is to let us know how put upon he felt having to point things out on the menu.

The food itself was very good. The portions are gigantic. We were still full at 7:00 in the evening We had radish cake (this is one of the best I've had), chicken rice hot pot, steamed garlic spareribs, sui mai (Gigantic), deep fried dumplings and egg tarts. We had to take the egg tarts home because the servings were so generous.

It may be just our server, but overall this was the major negative to our dining experience. If the waiter had a better attitude it would have been most enjoyable.

About a door down from a funeral home, it's just outside of some of the worst parts of Chinatown on Hastings. Since it was more on the way of where we were heading for the day & I have previously read the good reviews for this place, I decided to give it a try as I was craving for dimsum but didn't know of many dimsum places en route that wouldn't have scared me away even before entering.

To both of our pleasant surprise, even after what must have been a 15 min. wait for 2 (w/o a reservation), we experienced pretty decent dimsum! I really enjoyed their baked durian flake pastry while their deep fried bitter melon rice ball was bordering horrid in flavour, not in freshness. The staple steamed pork & shrimp dumplings were flavourful w/ a good balance of mushroom juiciness, shrimp & pork fattiness. The gai lan was steamed well while the fried soy sauce rice rolls were too greasy (still best at d/t Kirin). The steamed egg custard bun was interestingly filled w/ steamy liquidy egg yolk inside when served--it was pretty good as you can taste the salted egg pretty well in it & not too sweet either. Later the same day, after the takeout cooled down, it became the usual pastier custard typically served by other restaurants except this is less tasty when cold in comparison.

Nearly all the items were in the $3-range & overall came out to be pretty cheap tho, the next day, doing brunch at Fisherman's Terrace, I noticed a lot of their dimsum was in the $3-range as well so they're all about average, I suppose.

Definitely a place I'd consider returning to for more as it's currently still clean (no weird carpet odours, etc) & food is brought out steamy warm/hot & price is very reasonable.

We went to Pelican for the first time this weekend. I made a reservation (thankfully, cuz it was packed with a line out the door) for 12pm. I was told over the phone that we may still have to wait and we did, but only 10 min. We were seated and immediately greeted by our friendly server (which was amazing because it was so busy). While we were choosing items from the Dim Sum menu, we were offered BBQ sweet pork buns on the house. They were really good, hot and tasty. Our Dim Sum came out quickly and was DELICIOUS! We were happy with all our choices (minus the spare ribs, these were pretty fatty with not much meat...the only disappointing dish). The service was excellent and very friendly, complete with quality checks, water refills and desert offers. All in all, this place is worth a visit. I would recommend it! For three people, the bill was a total of $50 (tip included) and we were STUFFED! I will be returning, there is so much more on the menu that I would like to try! Wonderful time!

We decided we should get a group of friends and co-workers together for a grand Chinese dinner, so he chose Pelican, reserved 4 tables at 10 persons each, and came up with the following menu: 6 types of appetizers, a great hot and sour soup, Peking duck in three acts, prawns in the shell (huge), a tall platter of lobster and crab, fried squid, black cod, pea tips, beef and gai lan, Buddhist feast, pork chops, and noodles Singapore style. The service was attentive and pleasant, the food was delicious with plenty to take home afterward, and the grand total each person had to pay, including tax and 15% tip: $40 each! Unbelievable meal, night, and price. Can't wait to go again!

Honestly, I have tried many better Chinese restaurants. I wasn't very pleased with the restaurant's logo. It looks like a combination of Caucasian, Japanese, and Chinese all in one.

The service is pretty good. Your plates get changed whenver they get dirty and the staff are friendly. The service surpasses their food. I ordered the $78 meal for 4 people and an extra dish on the side. The crab was too dry. The soup was very bland. The lamb stew in a hot pot wasn't too bad, but there were a billion ingredients in there. I felt like this dish was very confused about its identity. Overall, paying $25/person for so-so Chinese food felt like a rip-off.

and they've done a great job! Last time I visited here was about a year ago, and while it was dingy and run-down this was more than offset by the good seafood.

Well, talk about an upgrade! New decor, place is bright, clean and cheerful. We arrived at 7pm on a Saturday night and while it was very busy we didn't have to wait (Limited number of smaller tables). Service was very good -- prompt and efficient. Food was excellent. Try the pan-fried prawns (delicious) !

Sometimes, an eatery goes through renovations and the character or the quality of the food goes downhill. This is not the case -- I'll continue to patronize this place, and might even find myself there more frequently.

Yes, we've been here quite a few times. Sometimes they're smokin' busy and sometimes, like just this past Tuesday, there's only a handful of tables. We have had wildly inconsistent experiences from really good food with fairly attentive and pleasant service to completely the opposite. This last time we ordered Peking duck, crispy chicken chow mean and Buddha's feast veggies. Basically, this restaurant just seems tired. The food was fine, no real complaints but nothing outstanding. There was one guy (maitre'd?) running around like crazy, one busser/waiter delivering food and carrying bus pans of dirty dishes around with his eyes permanently downcast and a guy in jeans walking around picking up credit cards and delivering the odd dish (owner?). When we were done eating it took them ages to clear our plates, then we asked for and paid the bill and sat for about 10 minutes before leaving. Then, with 2 of us already in the parking lot the busser comes out with the dessert that was included in with our Peking duck. Seriously? No one said, hey you still have dessert coming or what not when we were paying our bill 10 minutes before we actually left. There were exactly 7 tables occupied in the restaurant... So you can't say it was because they were swamped. Anyway, we'll be moving on, Pelican you have underwhelmed us probably for the last time. We're not having a great run with the Chinese restaurants lately **SIGH**.

After a hard day at the PNE 5 of us wanted to eat close by so Pelican was the choice. 4 dishes and a soup for $88 not exactly a budget meal but everything tasted great and nothing went to waste. All dishes came out at the same time which is a treat in itself. Staff was maybe a tad too attentive but better than no service at all. There were very few 2-4 person tables and an abundance of the larger round tables. Seems they cater to larger groups. The place was full when we left so their clientel is well established. Good choice for a dinner place.

We have been there more than 15 times this year, the owner know us pretty well aready! As we are couple form HK where you can always fine the best Asian cusine, I would say Pelican is suprisely fair in terms of food quality and value. Not to mention the seafood is always fresh and is one of the most valuable and enjoyable dishes to have. (Every kind of seafood is good to order except the fish which I found a bit over priced, some time over cooked as well.) and the dim sum at lunch time is pretty good too consider we are living in a western country, this Chinese restaurant is up to the standard.

My girlfriend's classmate suggested this place on account of the good dim sum here. With dim sum you can never get there early enough so of course on our schedule the front entrance was overflowing as we approached. Be prepared to claw through people to get the attention of the front of house woman to get your name down on the list. Fortunately we were able to get a table immediately. Unfortunately, it was right by the front entrance with hoards of hungry diners waiting.

The order sheet revealed much all the usual dim sum favourites. The chicken feet offered up a nice balance of savoury and a slight hint of sweetness. The tripe was servicable but lacked overall flavour. Shrimp dumplings were good as was the spring rolls but the beef rice roll too I found was a little bland. The stuffed deep fried pork dumplings luckily were good but on the whole, a bit of a hit and miss.

Service. Well, the biggest issue for us was getting the attention of the front of house woman as she paced back and forth to check for available tables. Since I've lost a lot of my chinese prowess in dealing with asian crowds it took several tries and about 20 minutes to speak over other hungry diners. Being polite here is a definite drawback. Actual table service was fairly minimal but typical; they even defaulted Jasmine tea for us without asking which usually means they assume we don't speak chinese but I digress.

It was one of the cheaper dim sum excursions we've had and we didn't even get the early bird discount. Still, there were a few misses and in reality, I've had similar or better elsewhere without having to scratch and claw my way through other customers just to get a table.

The Pelican is a great place to eat. It's a pretty good standard for Chinese Restaurants to strive for. The Food is fresh and Top Notch. I've eaten there Several times for dinner and Dim sum. Service is Great, James (from the Gourmet Castle) is now there. He's a Great Guy, always fun to chat with him about Hockey or Soccer. No complaints at all. Washrooms are spotless too!

Although I know better, due to a late night before, I arrived at Pelican at noon on a hot sunny Saturday.

The place was already packed, with a queue of 8 ppl at the door. As per usual at dim sum it was a bit if a circus, took a few mins to figure out who to give our name to to get seated. There were only 2 of us but we were seated in about 15 mins.

Card service is in use here at Pelican, and we promptly filled our card out and waited. And waited. It took at least 10 minutes for somone to take our card. Our server was a bit baffled by the fact that I was ordering in Cantonese and when she walked away I could tell that the Lo Mai Gai that I asked for would likely not materialze and I'd be getting a surprise.

Food came out very quickly much to my relief. The char siu bao, siu mai and har gow were solid. In the outstading category, I'm placing the char siu sou which was flaky and fresh and ot greasy at all. The xiao long bao were amazing! Big and juicy - I couldn't get enough!

Ambience was typical, large restaurant and frenetic service, washrooms were very clean and I eve got a smile or two out of the servers. For those that have said the servers were rude, just remember that a little Cantonese goes a long way. If you expect politeness, you should be sending it out first!

Price was decent, dim sum for 2 with "da bow" to take home for each of us came to jsut over 30.00. Would I go back? Probably not. Nothing wrong with this place, but Jade Dynasty is my favourite and the ladies there are fantastic - what can I say? I've been spoiled. Go early (before 11 am) if you do go.